28 



The Rorists' Review 



AuonsT 4, 1»21 



Established 1R97, 

 by G. L Grant 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Fixjrists' Publishinq Co., 



600-560 Oaxton BulIdlOK. 



S08 South Dearborn St., ChlcaKO. 



Tel., Wabash819e. 



ReRTlstered cable address, 



Florrlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897, at the post-office at Chi- 

 caKo, III., under the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, t2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Europe, $4.00. 



Advertising rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 TertislDK accepted. 



n 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



It is the general report that colleetions 

 slowed up rapidly during July. 



Rain was welcomed this week in the 

 central west, where growers needed it 

 badly. 



The success of those florists who have 

 adhered most closely to golden rule 

 practices should serve to show others 

 how profitable a guide it is. 



The drought has held back carnation 

 plants in the field to such an extent that 

 a scarcity is feared and undersized plants 

 and late crops are held certainties. 



Ip florists, as is predicted, will have 

 to be content with a smaller margin of 

 profit next winter, there is the greater 

 nece^ty to keep things moving so as 

 to avoid a loss this summer. 



The opinion seems to prevail in finan- 

 cial circles that industry has turned the 

 corner and that there will be a gradual 

 increase in business activity through the 

 year which lies next ahead. 



It has become time to watch credits 

 closely. During the time of flush prosper- 

 ity it was necessary only to consider a 

 buyer's willingness to pay; now one must 

 take stock of ability to meet obligations. 



General reports show July a busy 

 month, busier in some eases than the 

 same month a year ago, it is s-aid. There 

 is much business to be done in the hot 

 months by those wlio try to do it, and 

 flowers seem to sell when many other 

 commodities will not. 



The presence of riis't-i)re.si(k'nt John 

 K. M. L. Farquhar will be sadly missed 

 by those who gather at Washington for 

 the S. A. F. convention, at which he 

 was to respond to the addresses of wel- 

 come. His funeral, reported in the Bos- 

 ton news-letter in this issue, drew a large 

 number of notable persons inside and 

 outside the trade. 



It is unfortunate that conditions are 

 such that florists cannot reduce prices 

 at present, or in tlie immediate future, 

 without loss. In no important jiarticular 

 are the costs of production possible of 

 reduction at this time and the reduction 

 of wholesale or retail prices must come 

 oat of profits if they do not, in fact, 

 entail an actual loss. 



Rose plants are in much demand in 

 the wesft, because of the losses during 

 the hot weather of June and July. 



Put at least a vase of gladioli or 

 bright-colored asters in your window, 

 among the ferns. Otherwise your store 

 may be taken for the undertaker 's, a place 

 of the dead. 



Weiather conditions over the greater 

 part, if not the whole, of the United 

 States have been extremely unfavorable 

 for the last sixty days, indicating a prob- 

 able shortage in many important lines 

 of florists' stock for one or two years 

 to come. 



Growers are not desirous of making 

 contracts for coal at prices considerably 

 higher than in those they signed a year 

 ago. But the short production and the 

 prospect of a strong demand when the 

 factories now idle start their fires again 

 make it urgent for greenhousemen to 

 fill their bins early. 



Rejection by the workers of proposed 

 wage reductions on the one hand and a 

 stagnant market because of too high 

 prices on the other place glass manu- 

 facturers in a predicament, the result of 

 which seems likely to be a continuation 

 of minimum operations and a still more 

 marked scarcity of glass. 



Cut flower growers have had a ttmgh 

 season so far. While good prices have 

 been obtainable for good stock, weather 

 conditions have been so severe that pro- 

 duction has been low, both in quantity 

 and quality, with the result that growers 

 have been hard pressed to make ends 

 meet. But if the ancient law of opposite 

 and equal reaction can be counted on to 

 work with its old-time infallibility, a 

 much better time is in early prospect. 



What is indicated by the rapidly in- 

 creasing number of offers from the east- 

 ern states that appear in the Classified 

 ads in The Review? Does it show that 

 trade is slower in the east than in the 

 middle west, or that the eastern grow- 

 ers have made most progress in overcom- 

 ing the shortage in stock? Or is it only 

 that the advertisers are waking up to the 

 fact that it's where a paper is read, not 

 where it is printed, that counts in bring- 

 ing results? 



The correspondence reaching the sub- 

 scription department of The Review in- 

 dicates that the trade has entered another 

 period of rapid expansion. During and 

 immediately after the war the trade 

 ceased growing, or even shrunk, as regards 

 the number of persons engaged in it, 

 but recently many former florists have 

 returned from other and temporarily more 

 attractive activities, while large numbers 

 of people are taking up flower, plant or 

 bulb growing or gelling. Most of the 

 beginnings are in a small way, but in the 

 aggregate they mean a mat* rial increase 

 in production and distribution. 



ARE YOU A MEMBER? 



Out of an industry that comprises, at 

 :in accepted estimate, approximately 

 I"), 000 persons, only 3,f500 are members 

 of tht^ organization which is the trade's 

 mouthpiece and has been its greatest 

 benefactor. Surely, if the Society of 

 American Florists had done nothing 

 more in its thirty-six years of existence 

 than to bring into use the famous slo- 

 gan, "Say It with Flowers," it could 

 be said to have been a valuable organi- 

 zation. But it has done, each year, 

 much besides that, and with n larger 



backing by those whom it is held to rep 

 resent, it could conceivably do much 

 more. 



Perhaps membership has been to» 

 lightly valued because it was so low in 

 cost; $5 a year places it within reach 

 of the humblest florist. No matter what 

 other trade organization he joins, every 

 florist should also join the 8. A. F. If 

 he needs to be told why, let him read 

 J. F. Ammann's address to the Kansas 

 florists on page 68 of this issue. 



But reasons why have been given in 

 these columns too frequently to need 

 repetition. Every florist has thought 

 of joinin^the S. A. F. Now is the time 

 to act. Send $5 to Secretary John 

 Young, 43 West Eighteenth street, New 

 York, today. 



WHAT A LETTEB COSTS. 



The cost of a letter was analyzed re 

 lently in the advertisement of a high- 

 grade writing paper. The figures are 

 interesting, although the conditions and 

 authority are not stated: Postage, 

 $.02; cost of dictating, $.2080; cost of 

 printing and envelope-making, $.0048; 

 cost of stenographer's wages, $.058; 

 cost of office overhead, supplies, etc.. 

 $.058; cost of paper, $.0067; total. 

 $.3555. 



The office manager of the Willys 

 Overland Co., Toledo, O., lists costs for 

 letter-writing under the following items 

 and figures the following costs for each: 

 (1) Mail room, $.002; (2) dictation, 

 $.09; (3) phonograph cylinders, (4) let 

 terheads, (5) envelopes, (6) carbon 

 paper, (7) copy sheet, $.0073; (8) type 

 writer, interest, depreciation and re- 

 pairs, $.0005; (9) phonograph, interest, 

 depreciation and repairs, $.0015; (10) 

 transcribing, $.045; (11) supervision, 

 $.005; (12) space, heat, light, power, 

 $.016; (13) filing, $.002; (14) postage. 

 .$.02; total, $.1893. 



If a stenographer takes dictation 

 with her pencil and notebook, instiead 

 of a phonograph being used, items 3 

 and "9 should be eliminated, item 10 

 should 1)0 at least doubled and for the 

 same volume of correspondence item 12 

 should be doubled. These changes will 

 make stenographic costs about $.2484 

 per letter, as compared with $.1893 for 

 phonographic costs. 



If each letter you send out to your 

 customers and to business houses with 

 whom you deal costs 19 cents or 25 

 cents or 35 cents — or even if it only 

 costs half of the lowest of these figures 

 • — and the stationery you write on cost? 

 1 cent or less, isn't it foolish to use 

 chea]), shabby paper and envelopes in 

 your correspondence? 



THE PROSPECT. 



Tiie |)ublishers of The Review look 



forward, not only to satisfactory busi 



ness, but to steadily increasing volume. 



particularly in the Classified ads. It 



works like this: 



Havo hnd vor.v (.'odfl business from my ads la 

 your pappr and oxp^-ct to iisp a stood many more 

 in tlio sprinor, as Tho Rcvipw sppms to (five mr 

 tlip lipst rpsnlts I havp obtainpd anvwhere.— 

 William r. YpaRlp. Bristol, Pa., July 26, 1921 



If you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



D. F. C, Minn. — Gypsophila panicu 



lata. 



